Fellow Travelers
by Allaine
Summary: Animated JL, from the Bridesmaid ficverse.  Hawkgirl meets three alien women cut off from home, and wonders if she might be happier with them.
1. Chapter One

Title: Fellow Travelers (1/??)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Disclaimers: DC Comics, Cartoon Network, Bruce Timm, the JLA animated series, etc, etc. No profit intended from my infringement.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: Up to the JL episode "Hereafter". Also occurs after the first eleven chapters of the _Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride_ fanfic.  
  
Feedback: Please, please, please!!  
  
Summary: Hawkgirl encounters three women, each like her perhaps forever cut off from their homes, and she begins to wonder if she might be happier with them. Takes place in the animated-JL "Always a Bridesmaid" ficverse.  
  
_____________________  
  
(Author's Note #1 - This story takes place between Chapters 11 and 12 of "Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride". It therefore also takes place between the JL episodes "Hereafter" and "Wild Cards".)  
  
Chapter 1  
  
It was dangerous for them to be together, Hawkgirl told herself. That was the only reason she watched the security camera footage.  
  
While none of the Justice Lords had shown any sign of regaining their powers since arriving there (Wonder Woman was no longer there, of course, but reports from Hippolyta via Diana indicated there was no change), the fact remained that they knew little of the long-term effects of Luthor's ray. And who could trust Luthor to tell them truthfully, whether he knew or not!  
  
So if there was even a hint that Green Lantern had regained his powers (no one was sure if all he needed was a recharge in the way John did after his ring ran out of juice, but they weren't about to explore the possibility), or that the _other_ Hawkgirl had her strength back, then they would have two escaped Lords on their hands. And two escaped Lords could become five so much more easily than if only one escaped.  
  
That was the only reason, she reminded herself during a lonely monitor duty. That was her job, monitoring.  
  
Hawkgirl sighed. How could it be that her double had the relationship she wanted? Was it because she'd crossed the line as a superhero? Had that made her more courageous in other ways as well? Or was the difference in Green Lantern? Had he been the aggressive one?  
  
She changed the picture on the screen with a savage push of a button, interrupting the image of an embrace shared by the Lords, not the Leaguers.  
  
Her depressed musings were interrupted by the alert that a small ship was approaching Earth. "This is the Watchtower," she said, opening a link. "Identify yourself, vessel."  
  
There was a momentary pause, followed by the bored drawl of a woman's voice. "I trust your installation has some sort of refueling station? I'd prefer not to land on that rustic backwater you're orbiting."  
  
Hawkgirl wished she could get a visual so she could bore her eyes into the other woman. "What brings you to Earth?" she asked professionally.  
  
"Like I said, fuel. I have no interest in - did you say this was Earth?" Her voice suddenly held a note of curiosity.  
  
"Yes," Hawkgirl said cautiously. With her luck, this person had remembered a grudge against the planet or one of its residents. Then there could be a fight, and she could pound the pilot's head in.  
  
There was a low chuckle. "I'm going to be landing at your station shortly," she said. "After I refuel, I'll go. But while I'm there, I'd like to speak with Superman. Is there some way of contacting him?"  
  
Hawkgirl rubbed her chin. Her laughter struck her as less than promising. "He doesn't just make himself available to anyone who arrives on our doorstep."  
  
"Well, I don't want to commandeer a broadcast station like the last time, so why don't you tell him I'm here? He'll want to see me."  
  
"But who is I? You have yet to identify yourself."  
  
"My ship is the Lobo. Tell him it's Maxima."  
  
The channel was severed by the other woman, this so-called "Maxima". Hawkgirl thought about it for a moment, and then opened one of the hangar bay doors. She wasn't going to waste Superman's time with a name she didn't recognize. She did recognize "Lobo", though, having met someone with that name not long ago. It had not been a pleasant encounter.  
  
She hefted her mace as she stood up and headed toward the docking ship.  
  
When she arrived, the ship was sitting there, unmoving. Hawkgirl waited for someone to come out, but no one did.  
  
"Well?"  
  
The obnoxious voice emanated from the ship's speakers. "Well what?" Hawkgirl asked.  
  
"I assume you've come to refuel the ship."  
  
Hawkgirl growled. This was too much. "If you don't come out of there right now, not only will Superman not be speaking to you, but I'm going to personally ensure your ship needs a lot more than just a refueling to take off again." She charged up her mace.  
  
There was a sigh. "Typical temperamental Thanagarian," the woman said.  
  
Before Hawkgirl could be surprised by her knowledge of her race, the ship's ramp lowered slowly. After a moment, a short, slim figure emerged. The woman was in a dark cape, and her hood hid her features.  
  
"Why don't you take that hood off?" Hawkgirl warned her before she could speak again. "I'd like to make sure we've never met."  
  
She raised her head and calmly pushed the hood back. She looked human, although some alien civilizations had learned to disguise themselves and such. And certainly Earth did not have the monopoly on human-looking races. Superman was evidence of that. She was also young and pretty, with black hair. "We have never met," she said quietly, and Hawkgirl understood that this was not the person she'd communicated with. "She'll be out in a moment," she continued. "She wanted to be dressed appropriately."  
  
"Great," Hawkgirl muttered.  
  
"I am Raven," the strange woman said. "And you are?"  
  
"Shayera Hol," Hawkgirl replied. "But most know me as Hawkgirl. Have you been to Thanagar?" she asked hopefully. Raven seemed to be as modest as her traveling companion was brash.  
  
"No. I have never encountered your race. I believe Maxima has received your kind on her home world, however."  
  
"Received?"  
  
Further discussion was postponed when another woman sauntered down the ramp. Her body language told Hawkgirl instantly that this was Maxima.  
  
At least she hoped so. If there was another woman like her, she didn't think she could take it.  
  
"I am Maxima of Almerac," she said. Her hair was a reddish brown, and she too wore a cape, a white one, but it appeared more ceremonial, whereas Raven's was evidently part of her attire. "And I am not accustomed to being spoken to in that way."  
  
"I am Hawkgirl of Thanagar," Hawkgirl retorted, "and you will be spoken to in the manner in which you deserve. If you insist on being irritating, I can be much ruder." She smiled.  
  
"Oh, Maxima, could you lighten up for five minutes?"  
  
Hawkgirl looked up and saw yet another woman exiting the ship. "Just how many of you are there?" she asked.  
  
"Just us three," the new arrival said. Hawkgirl was glad Flash wasn't here, or he'd be all over her. She would be sure to show him the digital images, though - just to needle him. Her skin was golden and "the whites of her eyes" was an expression that would never apply to her green eyes. More importantly, her hair cascaded down her back, and her statuesque body had certain "assets" that Flash would sorely regret ogling. "Sorry about Maxima, she works hard at offending people."  
  
"Tact is for those who care what other people think," Maxima huffed.  
  
"I'm Hawkgirl," she said, ignoring Maxima, deciding that Maxima was easily the worst of the three.  
  
"Koriand'r," the alien beauty replied. "I'm from Tamaran."  
  
"No offense, but I've never heard of your planet, or hers," Hawkgirl said.  
  
"That's all right," Koriand'r answered. "I'm not familiar with Thanagar either. Or Earth, for that matter."   
  
Hawkgirl looked at Raven. "Where's your home world?" she asked.  
  
Raven looked at the floor.  
  
"Raven doesn't talk much about her past," Koriand'r told her. "I can't even answer that question, and I've known her longer. But we don't have any ill intentions toward your planet. We're not looking for trouble."  
  
"Speak for yourself," Maxima interjected. "I'm looking for adventure."  
  
"And refuge," Raven said.  
  
"And assistance . . . as you can see, our priorities are a little mixed up," Koriand'r said apologetically.  
  
Hawkgirl nodded. "We have an automated system to handle the refueling. I guess the three of you should come with me for now."  
  
"When will Superman be arriving?" Maxima asked imperiously.  
  
"I haven't contacted him."  
  
"Why not?!"  
  
"Do you always expect people to leap when you snap your fingers?" Hawkgirl asked, annoyed.  
  
"They did on Almerac. I was their queen, after all."  
  
"_Was_ their queen," Raven said neutrally, emphasizing the first word.  
  
"I'll ask him, but there's no guarantee he'll see you," Hawkgirl told her. "How do you know him?"  
  
Maxima smiled. "We were engaged to be married once."  
  
Hawkgirl dropped her mace and almost blew a crater in the floor.  
  
__________________________  
  
"It's Hawkgirl, Superman," Hawkgirl said quietly. "We have a few 'visitors', and one of them demands your presence," she added sarcastically.  
  
"Who?" Superman asked over the commlink.  
  
"She claims to be your ex-fiancee," Hawkgirl replied dryly.  
  
"My _what_?"  
  
"She also says her name is Maxima."  
  
There was a sigh on the other end. "Has she given you any hint that she wants to renew the engagement?"  
  
Hawkgirl's eyes widened. "You mean it's true?"  
  
"It wasn't exactly a mutual agreement," Superman told her. "So has she?"  
  
"I really don't know." She left the monitor room for a moment and went to where the three were sitting. One of whom did not appear to be waiting patiently. "You're not hoping to rekindle things with Superman, are you?"  
  
Maxima's eyes twinkled. "Well, if he's interested, I'm game. But I'm not looking to tie myself down any more, if that's what you mean."  
  
Hawkgirl returned. "She doesn't appear to be interested in anything more than a one-night stand."  
  
There appeared to be a choking noise on the other end.  
  
"Anyway, she's here with two other aliens, both of whom appear to be much easier to take," Hawkgirl went on. "Apparently they're just passing through. Maybe you could take a few minutes with them, just so I can get rid of them?"  
  
"It'll take a minute," Superman finally promised. "I'm at work."  
  
"I guess I shouldn't bring up your alien affair with Lois?" Hawkgirl asked slyly.  
  
"Maybe I should let you handle Maxima yourself," Superman threatened.  
  
"Okay, okay, forget I said it," Hawkgirl laughed.  
  
________________________  
  
"It's about time," Maxima said from the chair she was lounging in. She leapt up and went over to Superman, who had just come in behind Hawkgirl. She placed her hands on her hips and looked sultrily at him. "Do I get a kiss?"  
  
"Hello, Maxima," Superman greeted her. "You're a long way from Almerac."  
  
"I am, aren't I?" Maxima murmured, unconcerned. "It's been too long. But you haven't changed from the first time I saw footage of you." She sighed. "I was lying in the bath, and . . ."  
  
"Maxima," Superman said warningly.  
  
"Still the party pooper," she said, shaking her head.  
  
"Why do you have a ship?" he asked. "Why aren't you just using your boom tube technology?"  
  
"It helps to have a destination," Maxima pointed out. "We don't really have one. Oh, right, I haven't introduced you yet. Superman, this is Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, and Raven of Planet X."  
  
"There's a Planet X?" Superman asked, raising his eyebrows.  
  
"I don't know," Raven answered. "It's just her way of saying she doesn't know where I'm from either."  
  
"And I'm not really a princess any more," Koriand'r corrected Maxima, shooting her a look that suggested it wasn't something she wanted to come up. "Much as Maxima isn't a queen any more either."  
  
Superman was surprised that time. "You're not? Don't tell me there was another coup."  
  
"Another one?" Koriand'r asked, looking at Maxima.  
  
She waved her hand. "Ancient history. And no, it wasn't a coup. I abdicated."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Well, it was boring. I tried doing the good queen routine you described, and I suppose I was okay at it, but it was dull, and it wasn't really keeping my attention," Maxima said. "I had more fun when you were there. And then afterwards, when you left and Lobo came - "  
  
"Wait a minute," Superman said. "Lobo was there?"  
  
She nodded. "We had some wild times together," she said confidentially. "Still, after he killed a few people when he caused the destruction of a local tavern, I had to expel him for life. I did name my ship after him, though."  
  
Hawkgirl rubbed the bridge of her nose.  
  
"So," Maxima continued, "I abdicated and dedicated myself to a life of adventure, travelling the galaxies and seeking worthy opponents."  
  
Superman looked appalled. "You just abandoned your people?"  
  
"It's not like I left the planet in a state of civil war!" she said hotly. "Sazu - you remember Sazu, right? I named her as my successor. She's much better at it than I am, to be honest. My people held massive celebrations the day I left. Although," she acknowledged, "I'm not sure if they were thanking me for my years of service, or if they were just happy I was leaving."   
  
"How did the two of you get involved?" Hawkgirl asked.  
  
"We arrived in Almerac together," Koriand'r said quietly. "We sought asylum from certain people who were looking for me. Raven, actually, is the one who saved me." She smiled at Raven fondly.  
  
"I could not leave her," Raven murmured. She appeared unwilling to expand upon that.  
  
"I also hoped to find someone willing to lend me their planet's military might, so that I might return to Tamaran where I belonged," Koriand'r continued.   
  
"Unfortunately, Almerac and . . . Tamaran are under treaty," Maxima interrupted in a more businesslike manner. "An act of war could not be my last decision before leaving the throne. Likewise Sazu wasn't about to break treaty her first day of rule. I offered them a place on my ship. I supposed they could find aid elsewhere, and I needed the companionship for my voyage."  
  
"That was almost a year ago," Raven said. Her voice seemed even quieter than usual.  
  
Koriand'r frowned. "Both our home worlds do seem to grow farther and farther away, and not just in terms of the distance," she admitted.  
  
"So that was what you meant when you said you were looking for both assistance and refuge earlier," Hawkgirl realized.  
  
"Yes," Koriand'r confirmed, "but refuge means something different for Raven."  
  
The quiet young woman fidgeted in her seat as the others turned to look at her. "My father is a bad man," she finally said. "He wishes to use me for his own wicked purposes. I am just a healer. I want only to find some place secluded where he cannot get to me."  
  
"It sounds like it would be easier if something were done about your father," Superman said.  
  
"There is nothing you can do about him," she replied softly. "It is best to pretend he isn't out there. I can do no more."   
  
Superman wanted to say more, but Raven seemed to shrink within herself, and he understood that it was not something she wished to debate. "All right then. Koriand'r, I doubt Earth would be able to offer you anything in the way of military aid. We have had no contacts with your planet, and even if we had, the technology - "  
  
"It's all right, I understand," she said with a smile. "Our sensors indicated your planet is not as advanced as mine or Maxima's."  
  
"That being said," he continued cautiously, "if you'd like to stay for a little while longer, you're free to do so, as long as you don't cause trouble."  
  
Hawkgirl suppressed a horrified reaction at the thought of Maxima staying longer - worse yet, at the Watchtower - with the acknowledgement that it probably wasn't Superman's preference either.  
  
"Thank you, Superman," Maxima replied, "but I don't think your planet has anything to offer us."  
  
"Actually," Raven whispered, "I would like to stay longer."  
  
Maxima and Koriand'r both appeared startled, but then Koriand'r smiled brightly. "Raven's right, Maxima. We've been in that ship for weeks, and this is the only inhabited planet in this system. And they have a warm sun too. The last planet we were on orbited a red sun. Harm will not follow us here, I'm sure of it."  
  
"Well," Maxima said, looking doubtfully at Raven, "I suppose there's no rush. Can we expect accommodations here?"  
  
Hawkgirl sighed.  
  
"I guess we could find some space," Superman told her. "Although you'd probably spend most of your time on Earth. There's not much of interest up here."  
  
"Very well," Maxima responded casually. "I could use the relaxation."  
  
"Thank you," Raven added.  
  
"There are five others who come here regularly," Superman mentioned. "I'll let them know you've arrived. Just watch out for the Flash," he said, looking meaningfully at Hawkgirl. "He's very, er, friendly to members of the opposite sex."  
  
"I can imagine," Koriand'r said a trifle ruefully.  
  
"I need to get back. Could you take care of them?" he asked Hawkgirl. His eyes telegraphed an apology.  
  
Hawkgirl's smile was perhaps a little forced. "Sure thing."  
  
"If Superman comes here, then I assume the rooms are quite comfortable," Maxima said when he had left the room.  
  
"Three's company," Hawkgirl thought. "Four's a crowd."  
  
To be continued . . .  
  
(Author's Note #2: While some authors have written x-overs between the Justice League and Teen Titans animated series, for those of you familiar with the TT show, this is obviously NOT a x-over. I'm frequently appalled with what the series has done to characters like Koriand'r/Starfire, and hence I am using a modified version of the DC Comics characters, as seen in the old New Teen Titans title. I'm not using the canon version, however, because neither the JL series, nor the animated Batman or Superman series, has ever suggested that the New Teen Titans were created. Certainly the JL hasn't suggested that Wonder Girl exists.   
  
Maxima, however, is based on the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Warrior Queen", rather than the comics version. Zazu and Lobo were also characters who appeared in that episode.  
  
While familiarity with the three characters may help, it's not a requirement to follow the story.  
  
Also, while this story is a companion to _Always a Bridesmaid_, it should not be considered a sequel at this time, because there are more chapters coming of AaBNaB. When I finish Fellow Travelers, which will be relatively short, I will release Chapter 12 of AaBNaB.) 


	2. Chapter Two

Title: Fellow Travelers (2/??)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Disclaimers: DC Comics, Cartoon Network, Bruce Timm, the JLA animated series, etc, etc. No profit intended from my infringement.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: Up to the JL episode "Hereafter". Also occurs after the first eleven chapters of the _Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride_ fanfic.  
  
Feedback: Please, please, please!!  
  
Summary: Hawkgirl encounters three women, each like her perhaps forever cut off from their homes, and she begins to wonder if she might be happier with them. Takes place in the animated-JL "Always a Bridesmaid" ficverse.  
  
_____________________  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"Are you sure you want to travel separately?" Hawkgirl asked again as she landed the jet in a New York park clearing where they often landed.  
  
"We won't be staying long," Maxima replied, "and to be honest, the three of us have quite different interests. Besides, knowing Koriand'r, she wants to get her flying time in, and it's not like we can join her."  
  
Hawkgirl looked at Koriand'r. "You can fly?" she asked.  
  
Koriand'r nodded. "All Tamaraneans can," she said. "With a few exceptions," she added quietly. "Our bodies are capable of channeling solar energy, and the conversion of that energy allows us to fly. I've been to several planets, and it's always a surprise when I see how few people are able to experience it. Obviously you know what I'm talking about."  
  
"If you're asking me to imagine what not being able to fly is like for humans," Hawkgirl said honestly, "then I can't, it's true. Well, since you're all new to this planet, I've asked two other members of the Justice League to act as your chaperones." She glanced out the window as she lowered the ramp. "And as usual, the fastest man in the world is late," she muttered.  
  
Diana waved as the four stepped onto the grass. "Your sun is warm," Koriand'r observed, "but it does not burn as hotly as it does on Tamaran."  
  
"Will that affect your flight capabilities?" Hawkgirl asked.  
  
"I doubt it," Koriand'r responded.  
  
"These are our visitors?" Diana asked as she approached, but before Hawkgirl could answer, a red streak arrived beside Diana.  
  
"Sorry I'm late," Flash said, "but I . . ." His gaze had taken in all three women next to Hawkgirl, and while he was appreciative of Maxima and Raven, his eyes locked in on Koriand'r. And he stared.  
  
Hawkgirl glared at him as she moved in front of Koriand'r. "These are Koriand'r, Maxima, and Raven," she said, gesturing to each in turn. "They're visiting Earth briefly before continuing on their journey, and we've offered to help show them around. Since Koriand'r can fly, I will go with her."  
  
Flash was about to speak, and probably complain, but she didn't give him the chance. "Raven, this is Wonder Woman," she continued. "She'll spend the afternoon with you."  
  
"It's very nice meeting you," Diana said. "Raven, is it? You'd better call me Diana. It's not quite as big a mouthful."  
  
"Thank you," Raven replied. "But I don't mean to impose."  
  
"It's not an imposition," Diana assured her.  
  
"And Maxima, this is Flash," Hawkgirl added.  
  
The two looked at each other appraisingly. "I suppose he'll do. Although he is a little on the skinny side," Maxima decided.  
  
"You're forward. I like that," Flash replied, grinning.  
  
He'd better, Hawkgirl thought. "You ready?" she asked Koriand'r.  
  
"Now I am," Koriand'r said, basking in the sun's rays. She stretched her arms upward and floated a few inches in the air. Her bosom shook up and down briefly.  
  
Flash whistled.  
  
"Let's get out of here," Hawkgirl said, cringing inwardly as Koriand'r flushed. "Sorry about that," she told her once they were above the trees.  
  
"It's all right," Koriand'r responded, sighing. "One planet I was on preferred their women to be small on top and big down below. It was a refreshing experience," she admitted.  
  
Hawkgirl chuckled as the two flew out of sight.  
  
Flash set his sights anew on Maxima. "Your chariot awaits," he said, offering her his hand.  
  
She looked at it and sniffed. "I can walk perfectly well, thank you."  
  
"You know, I don't think any pick-up lines are going to work on you," Flash said thoughtfully.  
  
"I beg your pardon?" she began to say, but then he literally picked her up and vanished with her.  
  
Diana shook her head. "Sorry you had to witness that. Flash is a good man, but his tongue is faster than his brain sometimes."  
  
"Sometimes Maxima's tongue and brain act independently of each other," Raven replied.  
  
Diana almost laughed, but she saw by the look on Raven's face that it was intended as a statement of fact. She didn't appear to be the kind of woman who joked often. "Is there any type of place in particular you'd be interested in seeing?" she asked.  
  
Raven hesitated. "The . . . New York Public Library?"  
  
Diana was startled. "You've heard of it?!"  
  
"Hasn't everybody?"  
  
She wondered if the library knew it had an interstellar reputation as well as a stellar one. "All right then, the library it is," she said.  
  
_________________________  
  
"Put - me - down!"  
  
Maxima rocked him solidly across the face with her fist, and he dropped her squarely on her rear as he fell backwards.  
  
"Quite an arm you've got there," he said, rubbing his jaw.  
  
"That was why I was interested in Superman once," Maxima told him as she got to her feet. "He proved to be even stronger than I."  
  
"Uh-huh," Flash replied. "Well, anyway, it doesn't matter, because we're here."  
  
"Where?"  
  
"Like I said, your chariot." He pointed behind her.  
  
She turned around. "You've got to be kidding."  
  
"She's a beauty, isn't she?" Flash asked, proudly beaming at his van.  
  
Maxima looked away. "I can speak for all women when I tell you that monstrosity is definitely not a 'she'."  
  
__________________________  
  
"So you don't even know where your home is?" Koriand'r asked. "That's horrible, Shayera."  
  
Hawkgirl shrugged. "I miss it every day," she freely admitted. "But Earth has become my second home, and the Justice League is my family now. And I can't complain. As far as I know, the Thanagarians are still out there. Both Superman and J'onn are the last of their race. Superman's birth planet of Krypton doesn't even exist any longer, and there are no more traces of J'onn's civilization on Mars."   
  
She sat on the edge of the roof they'd landed on. The street was so many stories below them that it looked like the narrowest of stripes. "In fact, when you think about it, most of the League have lost their first family in one fashion or another. Maybe that's why we have remained together. But like I said, I can't feel sorry for myself. I'll find Thanagar some day." The look on her face suggested that she _could_ feel sorry for herself, and that the chance of returning home was all too slim.  
  
Koriand'r sat next to her. "I wonder if I will call some planet my second home, too," she said pensively, a change from her vivacity.  
  
"What happened to you on Tamaran?" Hawkgirl asked. "You said you used to be a princess. What went wrong? An usurper? A civil war?" She paused. "If you don't mind me prying."  
  
"No, no, you're not prying," Koriand'r told her. "I've told my sad story on a half-dozen planets, embarrassed myself in the hope of moving someone with enough power to help me. After telling me about Thanagar, it's the least I can do in return."  
  
She looked out over the city. "I was a sacrifice," she finally said.  
  
Hawkgirl's eyes widened. "A sacrifice? I don't understand, Koriand'r."  
  
"When Maxima mentioned last night that Almerac and Tamaran were under treaty," Koriand'r explained, "you might have noticed a hesitation on her part. Almerac technically doesn't have a treaty with my planet. Rather it's with something called the Citadel."  
  
"The Citadel?"  
  
Koriand'r nodded. "There are twenty-two planets in our star system. All but one are vassal states of this Citadel. Only Tamaran remains independent, but if the Citadel ever chose to crush us, they probably could."  
  
"Tamaraneans are free with their emotions, and we can be quick to anger, but we are a peace-loving race. From what you've told me, in fact," Koriand'r said, "we're like humans in many ways. Anyway, one day the Citadel invaded, and my parents were given the choice of turning me over as a prisoner, or seeing Tamaran overrun." Koriand'r closed her eyes. "They had no choice."  
  
"But why?" Hawkgirl asked, horrified. "What did they want with you?"  
  
Koriand'r smiled now, but it was a bitter smile. "Remember when I told you that all but a few Tamaraneans can fly? My older sister, Komand'r, is one of the few, and so I was named heir to the throne. I learned not long after I became the Citadel's prisoner that she had arranged for the exchange, she resented me so. And so, I became a Citadel slave for six long years," she said softly.  
  
Hawkgirl clenched her fists, feeling instinctively angered by her story. "You escaped finally, though."  
  
Her smile was more genuine this time. "Raven saved me," she said calmly. "She has various powers that always astound me, you see. Mainly she's an empath, which is probably a big reason why she's a healer. She feels other people's emotions. One day she had passage on a space freighter - even then fleeing her father, without any kind of real destination. She told me later that as her ship approached the planet I was being held on, my pain was so great that it called to her across the atmosphere." Koriand'r looked up into the sun, and unsurprisingly it did not blind her. "She appeared to me from the shadows, and I thought that Death had come for me at last. Instead Raven healed me, and she took me away, and she has become my truest friend."  
  
Hawkgirl nodded. "I can believe that. I've seen the two of you interact. But I can also see why your search hasn't been successful. It's not one planet we're talking about here. You would have to go against an entire system of planets."  
  
Koriand'r sighed and spread her hands. "You're kind not to point out that even the one planet would be a great task for most. But yes, you're right. Maxima says I should lie, get them on the hook, as she puts it, for a little, and then say it will take more than I thought. But I can't lure someone into a conflict with the Citadel through deception. So I continue with my fool's errand. Perhaps I'm not even looking for help any more. Maybe, like Raven, I'm looking for refuge."  
  
Hawkgirl watched her silently. "And maybe something can still be done," she replied.  
  
____________________________________  
  
"Let be be finale of seem," Raven recited in a whisper. "The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream." She closed the book. "I'd heard it spoken so many times. It's odd seeing it written down."  
  
Diana had observed her carefully as Raven, after an initial phase of wonderment at the massive book-filled structure, sought out specific authors and texts. "What's your connection to Earth?" she asked quietly.  
  
Raven became still, the book of Wallace Stevens poems inches from its place on the shelf. "I have never been on your planet," she said.  
  
"Perhaps not, but you know someone who has," Diana replied. "There's no way you could be familiar with this building, and certainly not the stories within it, unless you've met someone from here." She reached a hand out toward Raven, and though she shrank away, Diana touched her shoulder. "It's not something you should be ashamed or afraid about. I just want to know."  
  
"I'm not ashamed of it," Raven answered softly. "It's just not something I enjoy talking about."  
  
Diana let her hand fall away. "But it's true. You do have a connection to this place."  
  
Raven nodded. "My . . . my mother. She was born on Earth."  
  
"Then you're human too," Diana realized.  
  
"No," Raven corrected her, her face twisting. "I'm different."  
  
"I understand you have powers," Diana told her, "and I know some people with powers want to be normal."  
  
"It's not my powers," Raven said. "They're connected, but only because the thing that makes me different gives me my powers." She glanced around. "This isn't private enough," she continued, even though that section of the library sounded as still as a cemetery. "Could you meet me on the roof?"  
  
Before Diana could answer, Raven vanished in a thin puff of black smoke.  
  
Diana looked around, but there was no sign of her. "Impressive," she said before she quickly exited the building and flew to the top.  
  
She found Raven waiting for her, legs crossed meditatively, her hood hiding her features as her face looked down at her lap. "Is this better?" Diana asked.  
  
"I suppose," Raven said indifferently. "My father is a demon."  
  
"I'm sorry, what?"  
  
"My mother was lured into an Earth cult where she was indoctrinated in the belief that she was meant to be the bride of a being known as Trigon," Raven told her. "It was only when Trigon came to her that she understood his true nature. The shock almost drove her mad. She managed to escape from the cult while she was carrying me, however, and eventually she found refuge in a place known as Azarath, where she gave birth to me."  
  
Diana slowly digested this. "So you're half-demon, and this cult is looking for you."  
  
"They don't have to," Raven said, shaking her head. "I am a living connection to Trigon. I am to be his conduit to this plane of existence. If I let him through, his powers are such that he could overwhelm entire star systems, perhaps even the universe. So I hear his voice in my head. Even now he calls to me with a siren's song, promising me the world." Raven looked at Diana forlornly. "I do not want what he offers me, and yet he is a part of me, and that part wants to yield to his allure. It is only because of years of teachings on Azarath that I am able to resist."  
  
"Then why didn't you stay on Azarath?" Diana asked.  
  
"I was afraid for them," Raven confessed. "If Trigon took control of me while I was living there, I would have killed them all, including my mother. I needed to find someplace far away. I am alone, you see. I cannot even permit myself to feel emotions. To feel emotions, as I was taught, is to lower my defenses. Therefore I must remain cold, clinical, logical."  
  
Diana nodded. "So how do you explain Koriand'r? And Maxima?"  
  
"Maxima is merely a means to an end," Raven said quickly. "My ability to teleport is utterly useless for long-distance travel. I need a ship for that. Although," she added quietly, "Maxima is a better person than she makes herself out to be. I am grateful to her."  
  
"You didn't answer me about Koriand'r, though. I saw you together earlier. She obviously thinks of you as a friend."  
  
Raven seemed to grow more subdued, if that was possible. "Koriand'r was in so much pain when I first met her. I could not abandon her. And now . . . I do not know. She is probably not safe with me. I should part from her company. But I cannot. She - she lets me feel alive in a way that my father seems unable to take advantage of. I am an empath, Diana, and her personal warmth seems to warm me as well." Her face grew almost frustrated. "I violate my teachings by remaining with her. And yet if I left, I would feel as alone as I did when I left my home. So I stay," she added simply.  
  
Diana moved closer. "Do Koriand'r and Maxima know the truth about you?"  
  
"Maxima does," Raven said. "I told her when I first came to Almerac. Every planet I have fled to, I have felt obligated to tell them of the danger they were in if I was permitted to stay. Koriand'r knows some of it, but she believes I will never yield to my father. I wish I had her confidence," she sighed. "But neither of them know my mother is from your planet."  
  
Then she looked curiously at Diana. "You miss her too, don't you?" she asked softly.  
  
Diana blinked. "Who?"  
  
"Your mother. I can sense it within you. You miss your mother, and your home as well." Raven's look became one of compassion, a look Diana felt sure Raven could have seen on her own face. "I am sorry if I have offended you, but I felt it strongly. It saddens me that we have this in common."  
  
Shaking her head, Diana rubbed at her eye. "No, I'm - I'm not offended. It's just uncanny how you were able to sense that so quickly." She looked at Raven. "Is that all you sense about me?" she asked. "That I miss my home?"  
  
"No," Raven replied, and her sadness lightened. "You miss someone else that you love, but you will see her again soon. And you have many more friends than I who are special to you."  
  
Diana pondered Raven's choice of words. "You sense my love for Audrey?"  
  
"It is very strong, Diana. As strong as anything else."  
  
"What do you think will happen to you now?" Diana asked.  
  
Raven shrugged. "I will leave with the others. Perhaps one day Koriand'r will find a home. She wants that home to be Tamaran, but I can sense her doubts. Wherever she ends up, maybe I can stay there. Otherwise I will have to go elsewhere."  
  
Diana stood up. "Come with me, Raven. There's something I want to show you inside."  
  
Surprised, Raven took the hand that was offered her and stood up. Then she allowed Diana to pick her up and fly with her back to street level.  
  
With Raven following behind, Diana eventually found the book she was looking for. "The Greek plays are an essential part of learning on my island," Diana said, opening the book. "Did your mother tell you about them on Azarath?"  
  
"No," Raven said. "She prefers poetry."  
  
"There's a play called _Oedipus at Colonus_," Diana explained, "where a man has been cast from his home for a crime he was ignorant of. And he has wandered all over Greece, but no one will grant him permission to remain in their lands because of the stain of his crime. In the play, however, he is taken in by the Athenians and made a citizen before he dies." She offered Raven the book. "Raven, it's not in my power to decide whether you stay or go. It's not in anyone's power other than your own. As far as I know, you cannot be compelled to leave Earth except by force. And I swear to you that if you wanted to make this planet your home, and someone else wanted you to leave because of who your father is," Diana promised, "I will fight for your right to stay. I don't believe I deserved to be banished from my home, and you don't deserve to be a wanderer any longer."  
  
Raven looked at the book in her hands quietly. "Thank you," she whispered. "When Koriand'r and Maxima leave, I will be going with them, but your words give me hope that somewhere else, someone will say such things to me."  
  
Diana nodded. "Very well, but if you change your mind, let Earth be your Athens."  
  
" . . . Do they have good food here? I have not eaten in some time, and some of the recipes my mother Arella cooked for me in Azarath were from Earth," Raven said tentatively.  
  
"In New York, I'm sure we can find something," Diana replied with a smile.  
  
To be continued . . . 


	3. Chapter Three

Title: Fellow Travelers (3/??)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Disclaimers: DC Comics, Cartoon Network, Bruce Timm, the JLA animated series, etc, etc. No profit intended from my infringement.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: Up to the JL episode "Hereafter". Also occurs after the first eleven chapters of the _Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride_ fanfic.  
  
Feedback: Please, please, please!!  
  
Summary: Hawkgirl encounters three women, each like her perhaps forever cut off from their homes, and she begins to wonder if she might be happier with them. Takes place in the animated-JL "Always a Bridesmaid" ficverse.  
  
_____________________  
  
Chapter 3  
  
"You want me to what?"  
  
Hawkgirl sighed. "I want you to contact the leaders of the Lantern Corps and ask them to investigate the situation on a planet called Tamaran. I don't know the name of the star system, but I know it's being dominated by a group called the Citadel. Maybe the Lanterns could intervene?"  
  
John frowned. "If the Corps made it their business to help every king or prince who was sent into exile, we'd be starting a thousand civil wars across the universe, Shayera."  
  
"She wasn't exiled, she's an escaped slave," Hawkgirl replied. "I suspect you can sympathize with that."  
  
"My people don't take well to slavery, it's true," Green Lantern admitted, "but I've seen it exist on other planets, and I had to accept that I wasn't there to be an abolitionist. You're asking me to involve the Corps in some kind of galactic war because of this one woman."  
  
"I can't believe you're being this callous," Shayera complained.  
  
"Look, obviously you have some kind of personal connection to this Tamaranean woman," John said. "And don't forget, I'm a Lantern, a black man, _and_ a member of the Justice League, so I _really_ don't enjoy seeing people being oppressed." He sighed. "I can't promise anything, but I'll send a message asking for any reports the Corps has on the situation. It's strictly information-gathering at this point, though," he warned her.  
  
Hawkgirl finally smiled. "Thanks, GL," she said.  
  
"It's going to take a couple weeks before I get a response," he pointed out. "Will they still be here?"  
  
"I don't know," she replied. "I don't think so. Maybe they can stay a little longer. But thank you for making the effort." Hawkgirl hesitated. "John?" she added.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
I want to see you in person. I want to be alone with you. I want to tell you exactly how I feel about you. I want you to say you feel the same way.  
  
"I want to say all these things to you very badly," she thought to herself.  
  
"Nothing," Hawkgirl instead said. "I'll see you later."  
  
"Fine," Green Lantern answered, sounding unusually irritated. "GL out."  
  
Hawkgirl sat in the cockpit and stared at the blank monitor. Then she snarled and slammed her fist down, cracking the plastic.  
  
"Did I hear something?" Diana asked when she stepped back outside.  
  
"Nothing. I needed to ask GL something," Hawkgirl told her. Evidently Flash and Maxima hadn't returned yet.  
  
Raven glanced at her for an instant before retreating back into the shadows of her hood. Hawkgirl saw the look and wondered if the empath Koriand'r had described knew what had happened inside.  
  
"Late again," Diana sighed, resigned.  
  
"Maybe they're having a good time together?" Koriand'r suggested hopefully.  
  
Her guess proved incorrect when Flash appeared a few minutes later and unceremoniously dumped Maxima on the ground. "You owe me nine hundred dollars!" he shouted at her, pointing a finger at her.  
  
Maxima grabbed his finger and bent it backwards in her fist. "I care neither for your Earth currency or your noisy contraption. And I will _not_ be treated like a sack of grain at the mill!"  
  
"Let him go," Diana said warningly. "Flash, what happened?"  
  
He rubbed his hand. "The Queen of Mean here decided she didn't like my choice in music. So she put her fist through my van's sound system! It's going to cost me nine hundred dollars to have the van fixed and a new system installed. _And_, speaking of money, she also owes me a new CD!"  
  
"Trouble me not with your backward technology and your bills," Maxima sniffed. "I will not be staying for much longer."  
  
"Good," Flash muttered, folding his arms.  
  
"You will be staying long enough to compensate Flash for the damages you caused," Diana told her sternly. "I don't know what you have in your ship, but certainly there are things inside you can sell for nine hundred dollars."  
  
Maxima shrugged. "I thought you were a princess. Obviously you have no concept of how royalty is to be treated."  
  
"And you have no concept of just _how_ well I can treat royalty," Diana replied, her eyes glittering.  
  
Hawkgirl started laughing. Maxima couldn't know just how true the Amazon's statement was. "Maybe we'd better get back."  
  
"You should have seen Maxima on Azala V," Koriand'r volunteered. "She wouldn't pay the hotelier, and she ended up destroying the entire lobby."  
  
"We were expelled from that planet, I think," Raven added quietly.  
  
"What do you expect from someone who used to be involved with Lobo?" Hawkgirl asked.  
  
"Wait a minute, you went out with LOBO?" Flash said, flabbergasted.  
  
She looked at him contemptuously. "At least he had more muscles in his left arm than you have in your entire body."  
  
"This should be a fun trip," Diana sighed as she boarded the ship.  
  
"Hey, I have muscles, see?!" Flash argued as he brought up the rear, flexing as he bent his arm at the elbow.  
  
___________________________  
  
"Maxima has decided this planet has lost what little charm it ever had," Koriand'r told Hawkgirl as she entered the monitoring station. "We'll be leaving tomorrow morning."  
  
"I spoke to Green Lantern earlier," Hawkgirl replied, having anticipated that the trio might feel their welcome wearing out. "He's trying to find out if the Lantern Corps might be willing to free Tamaran from the Citadel's shadow, and allow you to return to your family. But he says he'll need another week or two before he gets some kind of response."  
  
Koriand'r nodded. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, Hawkgirl. I really do. But I don't think Maxima will last another week on Earth. She says she'd forgotten how resistant Superman was to flirting. Besides, I wanted to let you know that we've come up with a new plan."  
  
"Oh?" Hawkgirl asked.  
  
"Yes, we're changing course. We've been flying too far in the wrong direction. We're going to head back towards Almerac."  
  
"You're not thinking of returning to Tamaran on your own, are you?" Hawkgirl asked, concerned.  
  
"Oh no, I have no illusions of what would happen if I returned to Citadel space," Koriand'r replied, smiling sadly. "I'd become a slave again, and Raven would be sentenced to death for helping me escape. Actually, we're going to Almerac - albeit by a different route - so Maxima can gain access to royal records. Sazu promised her she could return to Almerac when she wished . . . provided she didn't expect to be queen again," she added, winking.  
  
"Makes sense," Hawkgirl said. "What kind of records?"  
  
"Well, Maxima did say that Almerac has received guests from Thanagar in the past," Koriand'r began cautiously.  
  
Hawkgirl grew still.  
  
"You mentioned that your people are a race of warriors," Koriand'r went on. "Being a professional warrior in her own right, Maxima wants to experience their culture."  
  
"She'll be in for a rude awakening," Shayera said softly.  
  
"And I think they might be more willing to help me," Koriand'r said. "You described Thanagarians as warlike, but if people like you are peacekeepers over there, then that tells me your world is also a just one. We just need the coordinates from Almerac."  
  
Hawkgirl nodded as she looked away. "We hate to turn down a fight, especially if we think it's for a good reason."  
  
"I was hoping you could give us some references," Koriand'r said.  
  
"Oh, of course!" Hawkgirl realized. "I know several people who could help you if they knew you were a friend of mine. Especially if you brought them news that I was all right."  
  
"Are we friends?"  
  
"Certainly," Hawkgirl said.  
  
"I think so too," Koriand'r replied after a moment. "Which is one reason why I thought you could supply references in person."  
  
Hawkgirl cocked her head. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean."  
  
"We'd like you to come with us," Koriand'r told her.  
  
She stared at the Tamaranean. "What?" she finally asked, not sure if she'd heard correctly.  
  
"I realize you wouldn't call Maxima a friend," Koriand'r said, "but we don't think it would take that long. It probably wouldn't take more than six months to get back to Almerac, and then - "  
  
"Koriand'r, I appreciate the offer," Hawkgirl interrupted once her brain started working again. "But I can't leave here. I've invested too much time in keeping this planet safe to abandon it now."  
  
"We may also be your only chance to even find out where your home is, much less return there," Koriand'r pointed out. "I'm not suggesting that the people of Earth are somehow less worthy of protection. But they're not your people. Your work on Thanagar remains unfinished, and there are others here on Earth who will go on defending it with or without you. My home is more important to me than my life, Shayera. This is an opportunity for you to ask yourself the same question - how much goes getting home mean to you?"  
  
"That's not a question you can . . ."  
  
"I don't," Koriand'r said quickly. "We're not leaving until tomorrow. If you can't answer until the last minute, that's fine. We think you could be an asset to us on Thanagar. We also think you would liven up our time in space," the golden-skinned woman added.  
  
Hawkgirl nodded. "I'll think about it, all right?"  
  
Koriand'r stood up. "We'll leave you alone then, Shayera." Without another word she turned and left.  
  
She didn't need to think about it, of course. She would stay on Earth.  
  
Wouldn't she?  
  
_________________________  
  
"You thought that was funny, huh?" Diana asked as she came in.  
  
"I'm sorry, I wasn't listening," Hawkgirl replied, shaking her head. She had not left her seat, and in truth she probably wasn't doing a good job monitoring. "What?"  
  
"Before, when I argued with Maxima over my treatment of royalty," Diana reminded her, smiling. "You seemed to like that one."  
  
"Oh," Hawkgirl said, forcing a laugh. "I doubt Maxima would have accepted the kind of treatment you were talking about."  
  
Diana chuckled. "Who knows? We have no idea what happens on other planets."  
  
"No, I don't suppose I do," Hawkgirl said quietly.  
  
"Shayera?" Diana asked. "Is there something wrong?"  
  
Hawkgirl shook her head. "No, I'm just thinking."  
  
"About what? When you feel the need to be introspective, it's usually . . . did something happen with John?" Diana asked, glancing behind her to see if they were alone.  
  
"Yes and no," Hawkgirl replied. "I mean, yes, something sort of happened, and no, that's not what I'm thinking about. Except I am thinking of him, sort of."  
  
"O-kay," Diana said slowly, trying to unravel this remark. "What exactly _are_ you thinking about?"  
  
Hawkgirl sighed. "I should tell someone. I can't just spring it. Koriand'r told me earlier that they're leaving for Thanagar in the morning, and they want me to come along."  
  
Diana's eyes widened. "You're kidding!"  
  
"No. And I haven't given them an answer yet."  
  
"You mean you're actually considering it?"  
  
"I told her I would."  
  
"But what about the home you've made here? What about the rest of us? What about GL, Shayera? You told me you'd decided to tell him how you felt," Diana pointed out.  
  
Hawkgirl's smile curdled. "That's true. I had decided that. I spoke to him earlier today, and I was about to ask him if we could speak privately tonight. There was a moment there where I knew exactly what I wanted to say to him, and there was no fear," she said calmly. "Needing to tell him the truth became more important than my fear of rejection."  
  
"And? He didn't - he didn't turn you down, did he?" Diana asked, worried.  
  
"Didn't give him the chance to," Hawkgirl told her. "I said nothing."  
  
"But you said . . ."  
  
"Believe me, Diana, in our line of work, you and I both know just how fast a hundred different things can flicker through our brains before reaching a decision. It took me less than a second to decide to tell him, and the rest of that second to decide not to."  
  
Diana just looked at her uncomprehendingly. "I don't understand."  
  
Hawkgirl leaned back and ran her fingers through her hair. "I think at that moment, when it was no longer about me, it became about him. And I asked myself what it would mean for us if we became involved. Diana, there were times leading up to that Secret Society debacle where John's condition mattered more to me than the rest of the League. Sometimes my decision-making ability is slowed for a few split seconds by Green Lantern. I look to see where he is, I ask myself if he needs my help, even if there's something obviously more pressing elsewhere." She looked Diana in the eyes. "We're friends as well as teammates, Diana, but if you and John were both in danger, I would come to his aid without question."  
  
"Caring for someone as more than a friend means shifting priorities, Shayera," Diana said. "Yes, there are times when I ask myself if Audrey's safety means more to me than my teammates'. But I don't think it has an impact on my work, and I don't think it's affected yours either."  
  
"What if it affects John's?"  
  
"I think you're selling him a bit short, Hawkgirl."  
  
"I don't mean it like that. Don't you think it's a little dangerous for two of us to become romantically involved while we're still in the League together?" Hawkgirl asked. "How long before building feelings for each other affects our ability to work together with you and the others?"  
  
Diana hesitated before saying what she was thinking. "Evidently it wasn't a problem in the other world," she said.  
  
"Don't even compare us!" Hawkgirl said, shocked.  
  
"I'm not. But it strikes me as a cruel irony if your doubles, who are guilty of some pretty outrageous actions in their world, should be together while you and John, who have the integrity they gave up, are not," Diana observed.  
  
"Maybe a lack of integrity is why they got together," Hawkgirl snapped. "We know they were willing to kill as a part of their definition of 'justice'. Maybe they were also selfish enough to disregard the others in favor of their own feelings."  
  
"Why don't you ask them?" Diana suggested quietly.  
  
Hawkgirl shook her head. "I am _not_ going to go to _her_ for romantic advice."  
  
"Fine. But if not now, you have to tell John sooner or later."  
  
"No, I don't."  
  
Diana blinked. "What?"  
  
"I'm not going to tell him," Hawkgirl said.  
  
"You can't be serious! You told me you decided in less than a second! You can't make that kind of life decision without thinking about it!"  
  
"I'm not going to cripple the League further by complicating John's life too," Hawkgirl replied stubbornly. "If I'm going to be a mess, he's not going to end up the same way."  
  
"My relationship with Audrey has _not_ been easy," Diana told her, "but my life isn't a mess, and what she gives me could never be a mess."  
  
"Yes, but she's not one of us," Hawkgirl said.  
  
"But what happens to you? You can't just squelch your feelings for him, not if it's reached the point you've been describing."  
  
"I know," Shayera admitted, subdued.  
  
Diana stopped just before she was going to say something else. "Great Hera," she whispered. "You're actually thinking of leaving, aren't you? You're running away?! I'll tell GL myself before you do something like that, Hawkgirl."  
  
"If you do that, I'll leave for certain," Hawkgirl said icily.  
  
"Not if he doesn't want you to."  
  
"I shouldn't have told you," Shayera growled as she stood up.  
  
Diana put her hand forward. "No, wait, I'm sorry. I wouldn't do that. Not after my own problems with telling everyone about Audrey. But you can't honestly be considering this."  
  
"It's not just Green Lantern," Hawkgirl said vehemently. "They're giving me a chance to go home, Diana. Again, I'd think you could understand."  
  
"I can empathize," Diana agreed, trying to think calmly. "And I realize that you have it worse than I do. At least I've seen my mother and other Amazons since being banished. At least I can receive news from home. And at least they know whether I'm all right or not. You have none of that. If you're thinking of leaving because you think it's your last best chance to go home . . . then I don't think anyone can say no."  
  
Hawkgirl didn't reply to that.  
  
"_But_ if you're going because you've made a unilateral decision about your future with Green Lantern and because you don't think you can be on the same team with him," Diana told her, "then home is just an excuse, and it should be so much more than an excuse. Now I don't know what kind of timetable they gave you - "  
  
"They're leaving tomorrow, but I have until their ship disembarks."  
  
"Well, I don't care when they're leaving. If you decide to leave, they can certainly wait until you've told the entire Justice League and said your good-byes in person," Diana warned her.  
  
"I'm not going to skulk out the back door in the middle of the night, Diana," Hawkgirl said curtly.  
  
"Good. I was going to visit Audrey tonight, but now I think I'm going to stay here." Diana stood up. "If you want to talk further, you can find me."  
  
"Don't say anything to Koriand'r and the others," Hawkgirl requested. "They haven't done anything wrong."  
  
"No, I guess not, and I won't trouble them," Diana said. "But I think you're about to."  
  
Diana turned, leaving Hawkgirl alone once again.  
  
To be continued . . . 


	4. Chapter Four

Title: Fellow Travelers (4/4)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Disclaimers: DC Comics, Cartoon Network, Bruce Timm, the JLA animated series, etc, etc. No profit intended from my infringement.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: Up to the JL episode "Hereafter". Also occurs after the first eleven chapters of the _Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride_ fanfic.  
  
Feedback: Please, please, please!!  
  
Summary: Hawkgirl encounters three women, each like her perhaps forever cut off from their homes, and she begins to wonder if she might be happier with them. Takes place in the animated-JL "Always a Bridesmaid" ficverse.  
  
_____________________  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Diana rubbed her eyes as she opened her door. "What?" she asked.  
  
Green Lantern looked at her disbelievingly. "What are you wearing?" he blurted out.  
  
She looked down at the white silk nightgown she was wearing. "It was a gift from Audrey," she said simply. "My using it in the way she intended is the proper way to show my gratitude." Plus Diana believed on some irrational level that it helped her dream of the blonde waif.  
  
And she'd wanted very much to think of Audrey, not of whether or not Hawkgirl would be leaving in the morning. When she understood that Shayera would not be consulting her for any last-minute advice, she'd sought refuge in sleep instead.  
  
"I could suggest other forms of gratitude," Lantern replied, "but then I'm not the Flash."  
  
Diana smiled. Glancing at the clock, she saw it was half-past eight by Watchtower time. "What do you want?" she asked.  
  
"You spent the night?" he said.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Then you had some kind of advance warning about this meeting Hawkgirl's summoned all of us to?"  
  
Diana froze. She'd insisted that Hawkgirl give the League the courtesy of offering farewells in person if she was going to leave. "I didn't know she called a meeting," she said truthfully. "I was here for other reasons."  
  
He frowned. "Could you make a guess as to why we're here?"  
  
"Yes," she said hesitantly.  
  
"And?"  
  
She looked at him. "And what?"  
  
"What's your guess?"  
  
"I said I could make a guess," Diana replied coolly. "I didn't say I would."  
  
John's frown became a glower. "Great," he said flatly.  
  
"I do know the 'aliens' are leaving orbit today," she told him.  
  
"So this is for goodbyes?" GL asked incredulously.  
  
"Probably," Diana answered, not offering details as to who was saying goodbye.  
  
He mumbled something and walked away.  
  
Diana closed the door and went to the closet where her uniform hung. She removed the bedclothes regretfully. It did feel soft, like Audrey. But then Audrey had also told her that even if some foolish people, wishing to provoke her ire in front of national television audiences, suggested that her costume was too revealing, there were others who thought it didn't reveal enough.  
  
Her cheeks grew rosy at the recollection, and she smiled involuntarily. Yes, that was good. Think of Audrey - because after this morning, her next-closest friend might be gone.  
  
________________________  
  
She had the shortest distance to travel, but she overslept and so was the last to arrive. In fact, proceedings seemed to have started without her, as the Tamaranean was talking to Green Lantern.  
  
"I'm sorry we can't stay longer," Koriand'r told John. "And that your request to your superiors concerning my home planet was for nothing."  
  
"I'll hold onto whatever they send me," he said. "You might swing by again some day."  
  
Maxima snorted.  
  
"I didn't ask everyone to come just because they're leaving now," Hawkgirl interjected from her seat. "In case anyone was thinking of leaving," she added, shooting a glass at the Flash, whose body leaned imperceptibly toward one of the doors.  
  
Diana noticed one or two others settle in their seats and suspected they had thought, like GL, that Hawkgirl had wasted their time in bringing them to the Watchtower.  
  
"You see," Hawkgirl continued, "Maxima's ship is charting a course to Thanagar by way of Almerac, and they've asked me to come with them."  
  
_That_ got people's attention. John's eyes widened, and he glanced at Diana. She shrugged, signifying she had no idea what was coming next - and, hopefully, that she hadn't expected this either. "Why Thanagar?" Superman asked before GL or one of the others could reply.  
  
"Due to the nature of the enemy Princess Koriand'r is attempting to conquer," Hawkgirl said evenly, "they would need military help of a substantial nature. From conversations I've had with her regarding my home, she feels that the Thanagarians are a strong race, one that would be more likely to pick a fight, and win it."  
  
"I wonder where she got that idea," Flash murmured.  
  
"Neither do I. I'm sure you're glad I'm not the type to pick fights," Hawkgirl responded meaningfully.  
  
He looked away and adjusted his costume.  
  
"At any rate," Hawkgirl went on, "I felt you should all be here for my answer, and my reasons for deciding thusly."  
  
Superman and the Martian Manhunter looked at each other, and J'onn turned to face her. "Shayera," he said gravely, "before you speak . . ."  
  
"I'm not going," she interrupted.  
  
Leaning against the wall, Maxima made a disgusted noise and turned away. Koriand'r's face fell, while Raven's reaction was hidden in the hood and folds of her attire.  
  
Diana couldn't help exhaling, and this time John's look told her that he knew she had kept this from him.  
  
"As I was about to say," the Manhunter continued firmly, "I would not want you to feel obligated to remain here. If I had the opportunity to return to my lost family and home on Mars, I would take it. I suspect Superman feels the same way."  
  
"I've always fought for what few remnants I could collect from the wreckage of Kryptonian life and civilization," Superman agreed. "I'm sure home is equally important to all of us. That being said," he added, "I suspect none of us is sorry to hear you say that you won't be going."  
  
"Perhaps we should let Hawkgirl explain why she's doing this," Batman said quietly.  
  
Hawkgirl nodded at the Dark Knight gratefully. "I empathize with you both," she said to Superman and J'onn. "I truly do. But - and I say this with all proper reverence - your civilizations, your cultures, they are dead. They are gone forever. Of course you would go, because you can never have them back. In my heart I know that Thanagar lives on, as do my people, and I will have other opportunities to see my home again."  
  
"What if you don't have other opportunities?" Green Lantern asked softly. "Or ones not as good as this one?"  
  
She sighed. "Then that's a chance I'm willing to take." She turned to face Koriand'r and the others. "I decline your offer, albeit with reluctance and with gratitude for the opportunity."  
  
"You're sure about this?" Koriand'r asked.  
  
Hawkgirl nodded. "I'm sure. You see, even if I never return to Thanagar, I realize that Earth is a home for me, and I can continue to live the new life I've crafted here. For everyone and everything I miss on my birth planet . . ." She looked at the League. "There is a someone and a something I will miss from here if I leave. And perhaps," she added quietly, "if I left, it would be for the wrong reasons."  
  
Diana closed her eyes and thanked Hera. When she opened them, she saw that John's expression was more unreadable than even Batman's was, and as to what he was thinking, once again she could only guess.  
  
"Here," Shayera said, rising and offering Koriand'r a folded paper. "This is a list of the people you should contact, and where they could be found when I was taken from Thanagar. There's also something there that will prove to them that I sent you to them."  
  
"Thank you," Koriand'r replied, taking the proffered gift. "This will help. It would help more if you were coming but . . . you're not."  
  
"I'm staying," Hawkgirl agreed.  
  
Raven's head rose so that the shadows no longer hid her mouth and chin. "I'm staying too," she whispered.  
  
Koriand'r spun and looked down at her friend, still seated. "What?!"  
  
"I do not think I will find greater hospitality than I have found here," Raven said, not daring to look up. "And - this place has a claim on my soul."  
  
"I don't understand," Koriand'r said, but Raven turned her head so that she caught Diana's eye.  
  
"She means she's from Earth," Diana told her, sensing that Raven was too afraid to admit it herself.  
  
Koriand'r turned to Diana, stunned.  
  
Superman walked over to Raven and got down on one knee so he could see her face. "Is this true?" he asked gently.  
  
"My mother is from Earth," she murmured. "She was born in that place we visited, New York City. I heard of it from her many times, but I never imagined I would see it myself."  
  
"And if her mother was born in New York," Diana said, "then she's an American citizen."  
  
"Which, under the U.S. Constitution," Batman realized, "makes Raven a citizen as well."  
  
"I've come home," Raven admitted, "and I didn't even know it until the first time I heard one of you call this place 'Earth'. I was afraid to ask to stay, but Diana spoke so kindly that I was no longer afraid."  
  
"But why are you saying this now?" Koriand'r said, falling into her chair next to Raven's. "Why couldn't you have told me last night?"  
  
"I wasn't sure," Raven admitted. "I think if Hawkgirl had accepted your offer, I would have gone with you. But now that I know this is probably my last time on this planet, I feel compelled to stay."  
  
Koriand'r took a deep breath. "Then I can only congratulate you," she said, smiling weakly.  
  
Raven finally looked at her, surprised. "Why?"  
  
"Because, Raven, you found what we've both been looking for," Koriand'r replied. "Home. How can I deny you that?"  
  
Hawkgirl folded her arms. "Well," she said appreciatively. "She managed to steal my thunder with just three words."  
  
"Raven, could I speak to you for a moment?" Diana asked, going over to her.  
  
Raven rose slowly and nodded. "All right," she said.  
  
"Do you know if your mother has family here?" Batman asked before she left with Diana.  
  
She shook her head. "All I know is my mother's first name, Arella."  
  
Batman and Superman looked at each other. "That's not a common name," Batman said.  
  
"We could check New York birth records for the relevant years," Superman suggested, "for Arella's last name and parents. It's possible she has grandparents here who've never met their granddaughter."  
  
Diana was leading Raven by the wrist, and she felt the young woman tense. "I think we should save that for later," she told the heroes.  
  
Only when the two were outside in the hallway did Diana speak. "You sensed my feelings for Audrey," she said. "What do you sense about Hawkgirl?"  
  
"The Lantern," Raven whispered unwillingly. "But you already knew that."  
  
"Yes, I knew that," Diana agreed. "And last night I told Hawkgirl not to leave Earth just because she wanted to get away from John Stewart. She's decided not to be frank with him concerning her feelings, you know."  
  
Raven shook her head. "I felt her sadness," she admitted, "but I did not know the cause. Perhaps if I had delved deeper, but it was not my place to violate the privacy of her heart. What I 'sense', as you say, is those outermost, and most deeply felt, feelings which are no more hidden than the color of one's eyes."  
  
"Well then," Diana said, "are you staying because you think you need to save Koriand'r from yourself?"  
  
The empath flinched. "She, she does not need me any more," she stammered. "She has an open heart, and she will make many friends."  
  
"And you expect your father to win some day, and you think she'll get hurt, AND you haven't told her the whole truth," Diana replied ruthlessly. "Are you afraid she'll run from you?"  
  
"If I tell her the truth," Raven said coldly, "then she will remain by my side that much more firmly. And then Trigon will hurt her. _That_ is what I'm afraid of."  
  
Diana sighed. "By the heavens," she said, exasperated. "Athena and Aphrodite, both confounded and at the same time! And by two!"  
  
"I do not understand," Raven answered.  
  
"Goddesses of wisdom and love," Diana explained. "Hawkgirl refuses to be completely honest with a man I suspect she's in love with because she's focused on all the reasons she thinks it won't work. Before she was afraid, and now she thinks the truth would be selfish! And now you push your best friend away from you because you can't be completely honest with her either." She rested her hands on her hips and bent her head so that she was looking down at the shorter woman. "I think you're both out of your minds, and if it was my place to tell, I would tell John and Koriand'r everything."  
  
"You're right, it is _not_ your place," Raven said hotly before taking a deep breath and folding her arms.  
  
Diana muttered to herself. "Well, maybe not now, but it was my place. I was in the same predicament with Audrey, and at last I chose to tell her. There have been problems, and undoubtedly there will be more, but I have yet to regret my decision."  
  
"That is all well and good," Raven replied, "and it is good that this has happened for you. But I am staying, and Koriand'r is not. So whether or not she knows about my father is irrelevant."  
  
Then she turned, her purple cloak spinning in the air, and vanished in one of those tiny black puffs of smoke.  
  
Diana shook her head. Was this Olympus' punishment for being the coward for so long in her relationship with Audrey? Would she evermore find herself playing Cassandra to another woman's Agamemnon, her words of experience and wisdom falling on the deaf ears of a Shayera, Raven, or Harley Quinn?  
  
She symbolically wiped her hands. She had washed herself of the affairs of those demented Gotham femme fatales, and she would do so again with the alien women, more sisters than friends.  
  
When she re-entered the room, Hawkgirl was waiting for her by the door. "Do you think anybody here even remembers that I was contemplating leaving Earth?" she asked thoughtfully. "That little bird's announcement has created quite a stir."  
  
Diana had been about to warn her that Raven had disappeared to parts unknown, but she saw her now with Koriand'r. Evidently Raven had been so intent on finishing their conversation that it wasn't enough to walk back to the others. "We'll have to help acclimatize her to Earth. At least with her powers, she could probably find work in health care."  
  
"Cold, clinical, detached - she'll make an excellent doctor," Hawkgirl mused.  
  
She could not be so detached on the inside, Diana knew, and she worried at this. Raven had said that Trigon would try to take advantage of her when she became emotional.  
  
Flash materialized beside them. "All I know is, if Maxima announces she's staying, I'm leaving. With Koriand'r," he added naughtily.  
  
Hawkgirl shuddered. Whether it was the thought of Flash alone with the well-proportioned Tamaranean, or the unlikely thought of Maxima staying on Earth, Diana couldn't tell.  
  
"Soap operas," Batman muttered as he joined their little group.  
  
"She's dark and broody, Bats," Flash suggested. "You should ask her out."  
  
"Hardly," Batman replied as Hawkgirl practically shoved her fist in her mouth to avoid laughing. His lip twitched oddly.  
  
"Although," he added thoughtfully, if quite oddly, "I can't fault her taste in colors."  
  
Batman then left to join Superman and J'onn at the computers. Probably they were looking for records of Raven's mother.  
  
"Taste in colors? What did that mean?" Diana asked, perplexed.  
  
"I don't know, but did you see that thing he did with his lip?" Flash replied. "I think that was a smile."  
  
Diana and Shayera blinked.  
  
"Is there anything else you're not telling me?" Koriand'r asked Raven cautiously. "Besides your mother being from this planet."  
  
Raven hesitated and looked to one side. "No," she mumbled.  
  
"You are a terrible, terrible liar," Koriand'r sighed. "I guess I'll have to stay too."  
  
There was a quiet moment where Diana could hear Flash's murmured reply.  
  
"Sweet."  
  
Then pandemonium arrived.  
  
"That's it, that's it, I am leaving," Maxima said, throwing up her hands. "You obviously have strange chemicals in your atmosphere that compels people to remain in this backwater. If I stay here any longer, I'll want to stay too. Earth is worse than a black hole."  
  
"You most certainly cannot!" Raven finally said after overcoming her shock.  
  
"At this rate," Green Lantern observed sourly to Superman, "the Watchtower is going to become the interstellar version of Ellis Island. Not that there's anything wrong with alien immigrants," he hastened to add.  
  
"Maybe you've got something there," Superman mused.  
  
GL smacked his forehead.  
  
"Why?" Koriand'r asked.  
  
"Because . . ." Raven spluttered. "Because this is my home. _Your_ home is somewhere very far away!"  
  
"So I'm not welcome here? I should think that's a question for them, not you. Even if you are one of them," she added slyly, grinning.  
  
Raven looked positively outraged. "You can't give up your quest for me!" she said plaintively.  
  
"I'm not giving up," Koriand'r replied. "I'm just going to help you settle in, and I'll wait for the response to come from the Lantern Corps."  
  
"Maxima will not wait that long," Raven warned her.  
  
"Got that right," Maxima growled.  
  
"It is as Shayera says," Koriand'r replied. "There will be other opportunities. Unless there's some other reason why you don't want me to remain with you?"  
  
Diana smiled triumphantly as Raven was pinned down like a butterfly, rather than a bird, by Koriand'r's ruthless question. If she told the truth, then Raven's fears of Koriand'r cleaving to her that much more strongly could come true. If she said nothing, then there was a chance Koriand'r might leave if another opportunity presented itself.  
  
But that opportunity could be a long while in presenting itself.  
  
Hawkgirl, on the other hand, looked dismayed. "She's giving up so much," she whispered.  
  
"Sometimes," Diana replied, "the personal connections are even stronger than the bonds of home."  
  
Flash failed to notice Diana's momentary glance in GL's direction, but Hawkgirl reddened and said nothing.  
  
And Raven, too, said nothing. "I would . . . I would appreciate any help you might offer me," she said, defeated.  
  
Koriand'r turned to Superman, delighted. "I promise not to be an encumbrance on your planet during my stay," she told him while Raven looked on helplessly. "We will be productive members of your society."  
  
"You know," Flash began.  
  
Diana already had a bad feeling.  
  
"If you want a job," he said, "I know a guy who could make you the newest Victoria's Secret model."  
  
"FLASH!!" Diana exploded. "She is not going to degrade herself in the flimsiest pieces of cloth for your erectile fantasies!"  
  
"I do not understand," Raven said to Superman quietly. "Who is Victoria, and why would Koriand'r want to be her secret model?"  
  
Superman forestalled Flash's response by laughing heartily. "I think you two are going to be just fine. Welcome to Earth."  
  
______________________________  
  
Hawkgirl dozed as she sat in the monitor's chair a couple days later.  
  
"Justice League, contacting Justice League."  
  
The voice snapped Hawkgirl out of her reverie. How could it not? The imperious, demanding tone was all too familiar. "Maxima?" she said, for a moment thinking she was behind her.  
  
"I assume one of you is getting this," Maxima continued to proclaim from the speakers.  
  
Hawkgirl was seized with a powerful sense of déjà vu. Hadn't Maxima's voice started it all earlier this week?  
  
"This transmission is just a message. Hopefully I will be free of this miserable, unsettled solar system by the time you get this."  
  
Shayera sighed with relief.  
  
"At any rate," Maxima went on, "I just wanted to let Koriand'r and Raven know that everything probably worked out for the best."  
  
"Probably," Hawkgirl agreed, even if she did wonder if she _or_ Koriand'r had lost their last, best chance to return to their respective origins. It seemed Maxima might not have been completely off the wall. Earth did have a bewitching effect on "visitors".  
  
And thankfully, that effect had been lost on Maxima, who never paid Flash for his van either.  
  
"Because I have assuaged my loneliness," Maxima said with all the pathos of a mediocre actress, "in the arms of a new passenger who I picked up near this great reddish planet you people call a giant."  
  
Jupiter, Hawkgirl guessed.  
  
"And he would have been a difficult addition to our little party," Maxima explained. "So while I shall miss you both, know that I will survive."  
  
"I'm sure they'll feel so much better," Hawkgirl muttered.  
  
Then a new voice, itself familiar, startled her.  
  
"Just so you Justice dweebs know, Maxie and I are going to raise hell on planets that are a lot more fun than yours," Lobo growled, "and man, am I glad you turned me down that one time. I don't know what I was thinking!"  
  
"Lobo, yeow!" Maxima squealed.  
  
Squealed? Maxie??  
  
Hawkgirl made a sickened face and lowered the volume. Let the computers record the remainder. "That's one window of opportunity best left unlamented," she said to herself.  
  
The End.   
  
(To be continued in Chapter 12 of _Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride_) 


End file.
